Improvement in egg-carriers



L. STEVENS, Egg-Barriers.

Patented June 30, 1874'.

No.'l52, 702.

I IT ESSES IYVENTOR A ttorneys.

UNITED STATES PATENT OF Ion.

JOHN L. STEVENS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. 1

IMPROVEMENT IN EGG-CARRIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,702, dated June 30, 1874; application filed May 5, 1874.

clear, and exact description thereof, reference.

being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, makin g a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangement of an egg-carrier, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of my entire egg-carrier. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the middle portion of one of the trays; and Figs. 3 and 4 show the strips of which the trays are composed.

Each tray is composed of an odd number of rectangular strips of pasteboard or other suitable material, placed in and crossing at right angles an odd number of similar strips. The center strip Aof each series is made, as shown in Fig. 4, with a series of parallel slots, a a, at equal distances apart, from one edge inward about one-half the width of the strip. The side strips B B of each series are made, as shown in Fig. 3, with a slot, b, in the center, from one edge inward, and a series of slots, (Z d, on each side of the center from the opposite edge inward.

The strips B B are first put together, so that the slots d (Z will enter each other, leaving the slots 1) of said strips unoccupied. The center strips A A are then inserted, so that their slots at a will enter the slots b b of the side strips B B, and the strips A A cross each other in the centerof the tray.

If these center strips were prevented from being pulled apart, all the strips B B would, by this construction, be locked together. To accomplish this object a string, or wire, h, is passed around and tied over the center strips A A where they cross each other. By this means the strips A A cannot be taken apart, and hence the strips B B cannot be taken out; and therefore the tray may be easily lifted out by taking hold of any of the strips.

The trays thus constructed can be folded together flat for shipment, and take up but little room.

A series of trays are placed in a box, 0, and between said trays, as well as below the bottom tray and above the top tray, are placedmats D D. These mats are made of hay or straw, woven or otherwise united together, so as to form a soft or elastic cushion for the eggs to rest upon.

Heretofore partitions of wood, pasteboard, or other unyielding material have been used between the trays, and as eggs are of unequal size, it has often happened that some of them have become broken in transportation. This difficulty is entirely obviated by the employment of the soft yielding mats D D.

I do not broadly claim interposing a flexible substance between the frames of an eggoarrier, as I am aware that such is not new.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The within-described egg-carrier tray, consisting of the center strips A A, provided with slots at a, the side strips B B, provided with slots b d d, and the cord or wire h, ap plied around the center strips at the point where they cross each other, all substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. In combination with an egg-carrier, composed of a series of removable trays placed in a box, the mats D D, made of straw or hay, woven or otherwise united together, and arranged substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of May, 1874.

JOHN L. STEVENS.

\Vitn esses O. H. WATsoN, J AS. 0. WILLIAMs. 

